Chapter 456: Old Trickster

That night, in the quiet of the deep night, He Yiyi heard a tapping sound on her window. Her heart fluttered with a touch of panic. She quickly pushed open the window, only to see Qin Mu climbing in through it. He smiled and said, "Sister Yiyi, I only climbed in because I saw no one around."

He Yiyi's heart pounded erratically. Under the candlelight, she looked at her sweetheart, and the more she looked, the more she felt her mind wander and her heart grow flustered.

So, the two of them discussed formations all night.

Early the next morning, before the sun had even risen, Qin Mu quietly slipped out through the window. It was said to be a custom in the Western Earth that during a 'walking marriage,' one should not be seen by the woman's family.

Before Qin Mu even reached downstairs, he encountered several early-rising women. They quickly turned their faces away, pretending not to see him. Only after Qin Mu had landed and walked a distance did soft laughter erupt from them.

By mid-morning, He Yiyi led her people in a reluctant farewell to Qin Mu as he left Sword River Valley. She said, "Our He family alone is not enough to contend with the True Heaven Palace. Sect Master, you should go to see the Poison Master, and I will meet with the heads of other prominent Western Earth families to discuss this important matter together."

Qin Mu bid farewell and departed.

He Yiyi watched him disappear into the distance, a sense of loss in her heart.

A girl nearby chuckled softly, "Did you and Brother-in-law Qin get intimate last night, Sister? Several people saw him climbing in through the window, and others saw him coming down from upstairs early this morning."

He Yiyi, still drowsy and a bit lacking in energy, retorted in exasperation, "Intimate? We discussed formations all night."

The other girls crowded around, chattering and laughing, "Discussing formations is just an excuse, isn't it? The night was long; surely, you were like a pair of lovebirds!"

He Yiyi gnashed her teeth, making a grinding sound.

The girls were startled. "You really talked about formations all night with Brother-in-law?"

He Yiyi sighed helplessly, "He was so enthusiastic, what else could I do? Force him? What about the He family's reputation? If I had truly used force, wouldn't it have caused chaos and torn down this entire city of Jun? I simply had to talk about formations with him all night. Thankfully, his insights and knowledge were extraordinary, and we became so engrossed in exploring the path of formations that we forgot about affection and joy, only feeling that the spring night was too short. But now that I think about it, I realize we could have done something else first, then explored and discussed formations."

The girls exchanged bewildered glances. A man and a woman, alone in a room, actually spent the whole night discussing formations? "He's truly a beast... worse than a beast!"

"Then why did you still tell Brother-in-law Qin to go find that little hussy, the Poison Master?"

One girl boldly asked, "What if Mu Yingxue isn't as reserved as you, Sister, and steals Brother-in-law away?"

He Yiyi sneered, "Unless that girl Mu uses force, no one will be able to take advantage of him. Ever since she lost to him in a fight, she's been infatuated and her heart has been fluttering. That girl always competes with me. If I were defeated, she would surely mock me, so it's better to let her be defeated once too, to shut her up first!"

The girls were greatly impressed. "Sister is wise!"

Qin Mu, carrying Xiong Qi'er, sat on the back of the Dragon Qilin and headed towards Thunder Mountain City, where the Poison Master Mu Yingxue resided.

"Big Brother, aren't we going to the True Heaven Palace?" Xiong Qi'er asked curiously.

"I originally intended to go to the True Heaven Palace, but there's still no news of the Grand Tutor or your mother. I suspect..."

Qin Mu's eye twitched, and he sneered, "That sly old Grand Tutor still hasn't shown up. I know what he's planning! He's simply waiting for me to cause a huge stir in the Western Earth, drawing the attention and main fighting force of the True Heaven Palace, so he can then achieve victory amidst the chaos! That cunning old fox... I wondered why he actively came to my Heavenly Saint Academy, inviting your mother to the Western Earth, and then inviting me too."

He looked up, scanning his surroundings. He saw a few white clouds consistently following them in the sky. He quickly told the Dragon Qilin, "Fat Dragon, we're being watched again."

The Dragon Qilin's heart tightened, and it quickly sped up.

The white clouds also suddenly accelerated, but after pursuing for a while, they were left far behind by the Dragon Qilin.

Qin Mu noticed that not only were white clouds pursuing them, but the large body of water in the Sword River below also suddenly flowed upstream, with waves surging like hidden dragons, yet still failing to catch up to them.

Qin Mu showed a perplexed expression. The divine arts practitioners pursuing them should be powerful figures from the True Heaven Palace. The True Heaven Palace's tracking methods were indeed unparalleled; once targeted, it was very difficult to shake them off.

However, how did that cunning Grand Tutor of Eternal Peace know that his entry into the Western Earth would attract significant attention and draw the True Heaven Palace's forces?

He had been quite unassuming and low-profile; how did the Grand Tutor know he might become the True Heaven Palace's biggest target?

"The Grand Tutor is still an old fox..."

Qin Mu looked at Xiong Qi'er and immediately understood where the target originated.

Based on what he had learned in the past few days, the Western Earth highly valued the little princess. The True Heaven Palace Mistress needed a little princess to secure her position. By bringing Xiong Qi'er, the former little princess, hadn't he become the True Heaven Palace's primary target?

Xiong Xiyu was not the concern; Xiong Qi'er was the True Heaven Palace Mistress's true target!

Previously, the target that Yu Bochuan and his followers pursued was not Xiong Xiyu, but Xiong Qi'er!

Qin Mu still remembered that he had intervened to save Xiong Xiyu and her daughter because he couldn't bear to see Yu Bochuan and others harming a four or five-year-old girl like Xiong Qi'er, which was why he risked saving them.

Thinking about it now, there was a reason why Yu Bochuan wanted to kill Xiong Qi'er.

"Why does the True Heaven Palace attach so much importance to the little princess?"

He couldn't help but wonder. He squatted down, holding Xiong Qi'er's shoulders, and examined her repeatedly, but found no unique qualities in her, making him even more perplexed.

The True Heaven Palace Mistress is called the "Nai Kui," which means "Mother of the Princess," and the princess's father is called "Ba Gou." Both names originated from the little princess, indicating that the True Heaven Palace placed special emphasis on the little princess, and there must be a specific reason for this!

Xiong Qi'er looked at him with wide, blinking eyes, innocent and pure, not appearing to possess any special abilities.

Suddenly, Qin Mu noticed Xiong Qi'er's small satchel. His heart skipped a beat. Xiong Qi'er had always carried this small satchel, even since their time at Heavenly Saint Academy. He had assumed it contained a little girl's spare clothes and hadn't paid it any mind.

Now, however, he became curious about the satchel.

"Qi'er, what's in your satchel?" Qin Mu asked.

Xiong Qi'er took off her satchel, opened it, and a burst of green light shone on Qin Mu's face.

Qin Mu sighed, "As expected. That cunning old Grand Tutor..."

The Azure Dragon Pearl lay quietly in the satchel. This dragon pearl was jade-green and crystal clear, with a dragon spirit gently swimming within it. When Qin Mu's hand grasped the pearl, the Azure Dragon spirit showed a disdainful expression. However, when Qin Mu had Xiong Qi'er's palm touch the Azure Dragon Pearl, the dragon spirit appeared very comfortable, gently touching Xiong Qi'er's hand through the pearl.

"The innocent and pure nature of children is indeed the best material for cultivating the Myriad Gods Natural Art," Qin Mu mused.

Qin Mu reflected that the main reason the True Heaven Palace needed a little princess was that her pure and innocent nature, free from any other distracting thoughts, allowed her to control treasures like the Azure Dragon Pearl and unleash their full power.

In the True Heaven Palace, besides the Azure Dragon Pearl, there were three other treasures, representing the Azure Dragon, Black Tortoise, Vermilion Bird, and White Tiger. Only the True Heaven Palace's little princess could unleash the full power of these treasures!

The True Heaven Palace's strongest fighting force was never the True Heaven Palace Mistress or the Nai Kui, or any other powerful individual, but the little princess, who seemingly had no strength to even tie a chicken.

The Grand Tutor of Eternal Peace and Xiong Xiyu had entered the Western Earth ahead of them. Leaving the Azure Dragon Pearl with Xiong Qi'er was certainly not Xiong Xiyu's idea, but the Grand Tutor's.

Xiong Xiyu had thought the Grand Tutor of Eternal Peace was unreliable and asked Qin Mu to bring Xiong Qi'er into the Western Earth. However, this unwittingly played right into the Grand Tutor's scheme, making Qin Mu and his group the True Heaven Palace's target, while the Grand Tutor and she could then secretly carry out their plans under the cover provided by Qin Mu's group.

"The Grand Tutor deserves a spanking. He's a Heavenly King of my Heavenly Saint Cult, yet he dares to scheme against his own Cult Master."

Qin Mu sighed and gathered his spirits. Just then, the Dragon Qilin suddenly stopped and said, "Cult Master, there's something."

Qin Mu looked ahead and saw continuous mountain ranges. Black coffins hung from the sheer cliffs. The Dragon Qilin was flying between two mountains, and he saw that the black coffins hanging on the cliffs on both sides almost completely covered them, making the mountainsides appear dark.

He quickly counted, realizing there were probably three to five thousand coffins here.

"This is... a corpse-raising ground!"

He opened his Danxiao Heavenly Eye and immediately saw chilling winds and gloomy clouds shrouding the mountains.

This place was indeed suitable for raising corpses.

According to the Western Earth's geographical map, this should be the Lower Prefecture, about eight hundred li east of Thunder Mountain City. The Lower Prefecture was the territory of the Western Earth's Liu family.

"A corpse-raising ground is the Liu family's territory? Are these corpses raised by the Western Earth's Liu family?"

He suddenly thought that corpses, lacking spirit and divine consciousness, would be excellent materials for Western Earth's divine arts practitioners to summon spirits and gods, wouldn't they? The bodies of divine arts practitioners, having undergone extensive refinement, were even superior to spirit weapons. Moreover, with limbs, they might even be able to use divine arts in combat, making them more useful than spirit weapons.

"Rise in rank and get rich!"

Suddenly, a loud shout came. Qin Mu followed the sound and saw several turbaned men retrieving coffins. They were chanting phrases like "rise in rank and get rich," activating Western Earth's divine arts. A black coffin suddenly grew legs and swiftly ran down the cliff face, landing with a thud.

*Creak.*

The coffin lid opened slightly, and a woman jumped out stiffly. Her neck rigidly turned, and she looked at Qin Mu, saying, "Could it be the Heavenly Devil Cult Master from the Central Plains?"

Qin Mu was surprised; he couldn't tell whether the woman in the coffin was alive or dead. He replied, "Indeed, I am Qin. May I ask who you are?"

"Liu Ruyin of the Liu family."

The woman leaped out of the coffin and landed on the ground, saying, "I heard that the Cult Master has brought the little princess into our Western Earth. Where is the little princess?"

Qin Mu held Xiong Qi'er's hand and smiled, "The little princess is right here."

Liu Ruyin looked at Xiong Qi'er, her eyes gleaming. Instantly, a monstrous corpse aura erupted. The black coffins on the cliff face automatically grew legs and swiftly scurried down the cliff. Other coffins floated in the air, their creaking lids opening one after another. "Corpses," whether dead or alive, sat up from their coffins and all looked towards Xiong Qi'er!

Qin Mu reached into Xiong Qi'er's small satchel, took out the Azure Dragon Pearl, and placed it in Xiong Qi'er's hand. He said calmly, "Liu Ruyin, your Liu family seems to be harboring ill intentions."

Upon seeing the Azure Dragon Pearl, Liu Ruyin involuntarily raised her sleeve to cover her face and let out a shrill scream, exclaiming in terror, "Don't you dare!"